Unmet Transit Needs Process

As the administrator of Transportation Development Act (TDA) funds for Butte County, BCAG is charged with performing the annual Unmet Transit Needs process. The purpose of this process is to ensure that all unmet transit needs that are reasonable to meet are met before funds are expended for non-transit uses, such as streets and roads.

Unmet transit needs are those trips required, but currently not provided and not scheduled to be provided within Butte County, for individuals dependent on public transit to maintain a minimum standard of living.

Reasonable to meet shall include all of the following criteria:

Cost Effectiveness: The cost to provide the service will meet the minimum farebox recovery ratio.

Economy: The project can be implemented at reasonable cost.

Community Acceptance: Support exists as indicated through the public hearing process.

Operational Feasibility: The service must be safe to operate.

The process entails a comprehensive public outreach program and a series of workshops throughout the county to obtain testimony on unmet transit needs that may be reasonable to meet. Once the testimony is obtained, it is analyzed to determine if there are any transit needs that meet the adopted definitions of "unmet transit need" and "reasonable to meet". This analysis report, called the Transit Needs Assessment, is reviewed by the Social Services Transportation Advisory Council, which provides a recommendation for unmet transit needs findings to the BCAG Board of Directors. This information is then provided to the BCAG Board, which makes one of the following findings:

There are no unmet transit needs.

There are no unmet transit needs that are reasonable to meet.

There are unmet transit needs that are reasonable to meet.

If the Board determines there are unmet transit needs that are reasonable to meet, the affected jurisdiction must satisfy those needs before any TDA funds may be expended for non-transit purposes.

* Workshops will not end until all those that would like to speak have been given the opportunity.

If you prefer, comments may also be submitted via mail, telephone, fax, or email to Jim Peplow. They will be given the same consideration as those received at the public meetings. Comments must be submitted by Thursday, March 26, 2015 to receive consideration in this year's analysis.